Taylor Farms is facing a fast-moving public health crisis, and communications veterans say its latest messaging has muddied an already confusing situation.
The major food supplier said Sunday that the FDA had retracted a positive cyclospora test involving its lettuce, calling it a false positive. The cyclospora parasite has sickened thousands of people across the country in recent weeks.
“Today, FDA apologized to us,” Taylor Farms said in a statement on its website. The company also said it had completed a voluntary recall of certain iceberg lettuce products out of “an abundance of caution” and in response to initial information from health officials.
Putting the alleged apology first shifted attention away from Taylor Farms’ earlier focus on consumer safety. The limits of that approach became clear Monday, when the FDA said outbreak and tracing data still pointed to the company’s lettuce and urged consumers to continue avoiding the recalled products, which had previously been distributed to certain Taco Bell restaurants.
“To clarify, this false-positive lab sample DOES NOT change the basis for FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms,” the federal agency said in a statement posted on X.
The episode illustrates the delicate position companies face when they become associated with a rapidly evolving public-health emergency. Communications pros told Business Insider that while Taylor Farms was right to acknowledge the false positive, it should have kept the emphasis on safety, transparency, and what it was doing next.
“Anything that is perceived as celebrating vindication will actually be perceived as premature,” said Bradley Akubuiro, who served as chief spokesperson for Boeing during the 737 Max crisis and is now a partner at leadership advisory firm Bully Pulpit International. “They have not actually been absolved yet.”
Taylor Farms did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about its handling of the outbreak or its communications strategy.
Kevin Donahue, a crisis communications veteran at the consultancy Coologee who has worked on FDA and product recalls, said the FDA’s false positive was worth acknowledging, though it shouldn’t have been the starting point for the company’s message.
Donahue said a more effective statement would have shifted quickly from the latest FDA finding to reassuring consumers. He suggested starting off with something along the lines of: “We’re pleased that the product test was determined to be a false positive. Our primary focus remains consumer safety and supporting public health. We are committed to working with the FDA as their investigation continues.”
Rod Hughes, a crisis-communications expert with Kimball Hughes Public Relations, agreed and also said Taylor Farms has handled some aspects of the outbreak appropriately. It quickly expressed sympathy for those who fell ill, voluntarily pulled the potentially tainted lettuce from the market, and said it was committed to working with public health authorities.
“They led with empathy, as you kind of have to in these situations,” Hughes said. “People were harmed, and you’ve got to acknowledge that upfront.”
His biggest concern was that Taylor Farms has said little about what it is doing to prevent future outbreaks.
“What corrective action are they taking?” Hughes said. “I don’t see that.”
He also said companies generally should avoid antagonizing regulators, regardless of which political party controls the government, because those agencies regulate them.
“I wouldn’t recommend poking the FDA, the IRS, or any of those entities in the eye,” Hughes said. “That can come back to haunt you later when you need some grace from them.”
Since the FDA hasn’t confirmed Taylor Farms’ claim that it apologized for the false positive, the company is now in a precarious position, said Evan Nierman, founder of crisis public relations firm Red Banyan. Taylor Farms essentially invited scrutiny of whose version of events was accurate by making the alleged apology central to its statement.
“It’s led to a whole new raft of coverage assessing who’s right and who’s accurate,” he said. “You never want to crawl out on a limb you can’t come back from.”
